Public meeting over Tongue End anaerobic digester plant plan

An artist's impression of plans for an anaerobic digester plant on land off Counter Drain Drove, Tongue End.

A public meeting about controversial plans for an energy plant on more than eight acres of land near Spalding is to be held next week.

Agents acting for W.D Branton and Willow Tree Potatoes Ltd of Deeping St Nicholas are holding a drop-in session with the public on Monday about a proposed anaerobic digester plant on land near Counter Drain Drove, Tongue End.

A spokesman for Lincoln-based J.H. Walter Planning and Energy Services

The drop-in session takes place at Parker and Sons Ltd, Tate Business Park, Dozens Bank, Pode Hole, between 3pm and 8pm.

A spokesman for Lincoln-based J.H. Walter Planning and Energy Services, said: “We understand there has been continued local interest about the planning application for an anaerobic digestion plant for W. D. Branton on land to the south of Counter Drain Drove, Tongue End.

“In response, we have organised a drop-in session to be held at Parker and Sons Ltd, Pode Hole, on Monday between 3pm and 8pm.

“The hours of this drop-in session have been extended in response to local residents who work until 7pm and no appointment is necessary.

“The applicant (W D Branton), their agents and a team of experts will all be on hand to answer questions and provide information and reassurance.

“They look forward to meeting people on the day to discuss the project.”

Details of the plans first emerged about two weeks ago when a group of residents from Tongue End and living near the proposed site formed an action group with the aim of persuading W.D. Branton’s managers to build the plant elsewhere.

Fears over ‘noxious smells, constant noise and increasing traffic’ have led more than 500 to sign an online petition against the proposed anaerobic digester plant in Tongue End.

An action group made up of people living near the site in Counter Drain Drove, earmarked by W.D. Branton and Willow Tree Potatoes Ltd for the plant, claimed it would be a ‘blot on the landscape’ in otherwise ‘completely open countryside’ if allowed to go ahead.

Further opposition to the plant came from Tongue End resident Rachel Casbon who wrote to our sister newspaper, the Lincolnshire Free Press, on Tuesday.

Rachel said: “Tongue End is situated in one of the last stretches of ‘big sky’ fens in the area and the proposal for an eight-acre industrial site, to be situated 330 metres from people’s gardens, will have an enormously detrimental visual impact upon the whole area.”

Deeping St Nicholas Parish Council, which covers Tongue End, voted against the plans at its meeting on May 16 and Baston Parish Council is due to consider them at its meeting tonight at The Barn, Main Street, Baston, starting at 8pm.

Meanwhile, the J.H. Walter spokesman said: “We want to reassure your readers, especially those from Tongue End and Baston, that the proposed plant does not involve any waste processing and that there is no bio-gas filling station proposed for the site.